“I think Skip is a lovely name.”
His cheeks reddened and he scrunched his nose. “Ye stink.”
“Oh.” She gave a little sniff. “Well, I’d be grateful for a bucket of clean water and soap if you could spare it.”
“Won’t make a difference. Smell’s like a bull’s arse down here.”
Samantha let out a chuckle. He wasn’t wrong. “If you can’t tell me where we’re going, can you tell me how much longer we’ll be at sea?”
He shrugged. “Guess it don’t hurt. We’re just less’n two days from port.”
Four days of travel. After the first day spent sailing at breakneck speed, they had slowed. After some quick calculations, the answer seemed obvious.
“Tortuga,” she whispered.
Skip jumped back with wide eyes. “How’d you do that?”
But she didn’t have time to answer. The faint ringing of a bell reached them and the cabin boy’s eyes lit up. “Ship ahoy!” He turned and scurried up the ladder.
“Wait!”
The hatch slammed shut.
At least she had gotten the kid to talk. She replayed their conversation, trying to pick out anything of use. After a few minutes, the ship shifted and she leaned with it.
They were turning.
She backed against the wall and splayed her fingers against the damp wood. When they finished the turn, the frigate slowed. Vibrations and thumps came from the deck above and her pulse jumped. Cannons being readied.
The infamous Captain Thorne was about to attack a ship.
God help them.
Samantha closed her eyes and concentrated. Not much longer till they engaged. The thrum of activity above came across muffled. She breathed out. The brig lay below the water line. No need to worry about getting blown apart in a cannon blast.
Her hands tingled against the wall, the ship’s energy pulsing through her. They had come to a near stop. Soon. Very soon.
A muffled shout came from above.
And hell broke loose.
The explosion of a dozen cannons going off in sync rocked the ship. A strange quietness followed in the seconds after, and her shoulders went tight.
Crack!
The impact was followed by another. And another. The ship trembled at the onslaught and Samantha slid down the wall to the floor. Her back vibrated with the explosions of another round of cannon fire from above and tears pricked her eyes.
Several more impacts rocked the hull, but the frigate rested steady in the sea. No critical damage had been done. She strained her ears, and the faint echoes of shouts came from above. For the first time ever, the thought of battle made her go numb. Whoever was on that ship was going to die.
The minutes began to stretch by, and Samantha pulled her knees to her chest. She flinched when the cannons above her sounded again. The battle had been won. A silent prayer caught in her throat for the lives lost. Those last shots from the guns would have been aimed below the waterline and it wouldn’t take long for the captured ship to sink.
A cheer rose from the upper deck.
And then silence.
Samantha leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Her heartbeat a dull thump in her chest. She wasn’t naive. The chances of her escaping this alive were slim to none. Heavy on the none.
She was going to die.
